When you use the Sequence Call Module tab to specify a sequence file pathname for a Sequence Call step and specify Use Remote Computer in the Execution Options section, TestStand locates the sequence file according to the type of path, as the following table describes.

Type of Path Location at Edit Time Location During Execution Example
Relative In the TestStand search paths you configure on the client (local) computer In the TestStand search paths you configure on the server (remote) computer Transmit.seq
Absolute On the client (local) computer On the server (remote) computer C:\Projects\Transmit.seq
Network On the computer the network path specifies On the computer the network path specifies \\Remote\Projects\Transmit.seq

When you edit a step in a sequence file on a client computer and you specify an absolute or relative path for the sequence file the step calls, TestStand resolves the path for the sequence file on the client computer. When you execute the step on the client computer, TestStand resolves the path for the sequence file on the server computer.

You can manage remote sequence files for remote execution in the following ways:

  • Add a common pathname to the search paths for the client and the server computers so that each resolves to the same relative pathname.
  • Duplicate the files on the client and the server computers so that the file you edit on the client computer is identical to the file the server computer executes.
  • Use absolute paths that specify a mapped network drive or full network path so that the file the client computer edits and the file the server computer executes are the same sequence file.

When you execute a remote sequence, you cannot single-step or set breakpoints in the remote sequence. When you enable tracing, TestStand updates the status bar with tracing information for the remote sequence.

When a remote sequence executes on a server, the sequence context and call stack include only the sequences that run on the remote computer. When you want to access properties from the client sequence context, you must pass the PropertyObject objects or their values as parameters to the remote sequence. You can use the TestStand API to access properties within a property object.

Note TestStand does not support remotely executing a sequence across different TestStand versions, for example, remotely executing a TestStand 2014 sequence from a computer running TestStand 2013.